In wireless communications systems, such as IEEE 802.16m, WiMAX, or so forth, a mobile station (or MS, subscriber, user, User Equipment (UE), or so forth) may enter an idle mode when it is not actively exchanging information (e.g., user data) with a base station (or BS, base terminal server, NodeB, ehanced NodeB, and so on). When the mobile station is in the idle mode, the mobile station may conserve power by turning off its transmitter and receiver. However, to ensure that it remains abreast of incoming calls (or connections), the mobile station may turn on its receiver at specified times to detect pages sent by the base station.
As used herein, a call may be a voice call that allows verbal communications. Additionally, a call may also be a data connection wherein a data (digital and/or analog) may be exchanged. For example, a user may utilize a computer and a data connection may be established for a mobile station used by the user, allowing the user to browse Internet web pages, download music, video, multimedia, stream videos, access public and private networks, share information, and so forth.
Typically, a page is a message sent by a base station in a wireless communications system to a mobile station to notify the mobile station that there is an incoming call (or connection) for the mobile station. When the mobile station receives a paging message, the mobile station may send a response message to the wireless communications system to request a traffic channel. When granted a traffic channel, the mobile station may indicate to its user that there is a waiting call (or connection).
While a mobile station is in idle mode, a base station will serve as the mobile station's selected base station (SBS). The mobile station synchronizes to the SBS, acquires its operational and configuration parameters, and monitors its transmissions for paging notifications during predetermined times. As a mobile station moves through a communications system, it may choose a new SBS based on its signal strength relative to other BSs. Selecting a new SBS does not require the mobile station to exchange messages with the communications system.
As the mobile station moves through a communications system, it may use a location update procedure to inform the communications system of its location so that paging notifications can be delivered to its SBS. When the mobile station performs the location update procedure, it exchanges messages with the communications system, so it may be beneficial if the mobile station does not update its location every time it selects a new SBS due to power consumption considerations.
To help reduce the need for the mobile station to perform location updates, base stations may be grouped together into paging groups according to their proximity to each other and the mobile station updates its location only when it selects a base station in a paging group different from the paging group of the mobile station's current SBS. This means that the mobile station's location is not tracked with a granularity of a single base station so multiple base stations (i.e., base stations in the same paging group) must transmit paging notifications for the same mobile station.